Is St. Louis really ‘#1 in Civil Rights?’ The Missouri History Museum makes a compelling case

Gwen Moore and Percy Green joined "St. Louis on the Air" to discuss the Missouri History Museum's recent exhibit "#1 in Civil Rights."

Kelly Moffitt | St. Louis Public Radio

If you remember the day two St. Louis activists climbed 125 feet up a construction ladder on the unfinished north leg of the Gateway Arch, you remember a key moment of the civil rights movement in St. Louis. Percy Green was one of the people who climbed the Arch on July 14, 1964.

On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh looked back on the compelling and complex history of civil rights in St. Louis with Green alongside Gwen Moore, curator of urban landscape and community at the Missouri History Museum.

“[#1 in Civil Rights] is a bold claim but that bold claim came from Judge Nathan B. Young, the founder of the St. Louis American newspaper,” Moore said. “Young was also a keen researcher of local African-American history and he made that claim repeatedly. In 1964, he said we had more civil rights cases go to the Supreme Court than any other city in the nation, possibly with the exception of New Orleans. We had three separate civil rights cases: The Dred Scott decision, Gaines v. Canada, Shelley v. Kramer.”

By 1968, with the case Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Company, St. Louis had four cases go before the Supreme Court. At the time, Young wrote another editorial asserting that St. Louis’ reputation was firm.

That history goes back as far back as 1819, when black and white allies took to the steps of the Old Courthouse protesting the fact Missouri had become a slave state. The exhibit at the History Museum extends from the 1800s to the 1960s and even includes a portion about Ferguson.

“We invite our visitors to contemplate Ferguson: what is the meaning of Ferguson?” Moore said. “Is this part of the civil rights narrative? Is this something different? If so, what is it? We want people to ponder Ferguson and think about it.”

Listen as Green and Moore discuss the history of civil rights in St. Louis:

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Missouri History Museum curator Gwen Moore and noted activist Percy Green joined St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh to discuss the history of civil rights in St. Louis.

St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh and producers Mary Edwards, Alex Heuer and Kelly Moffitt give you the information you need to make informed decisions and stay in touch with our diverse and vibrant St. Louis region.

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This article first appeared in the St. Louis American, and is used with permission:

Frankie Muse Freeman’s mother once shared a poem with her.

“There’s a line, ‘It shows in your face,’” Freeman said during a Black History Month talk at Anheuser-Busch in 2010. “However you live, it shows on your face. That was the theme that I tried to show through the experiences of my life.”

Priscilla Dowden-White is a history professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis who studies civic activism in the 20th century. She says movements of the early to mid 20th century are rife with lessons for today’s protesters — but that comparing the two too closely can be reductive.

Paul Ockrassa | St. Louis Globe-Democrat | courtesy St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri St. Louis.

Updated 1:13 p.m., Oct. 28 with "St. Louis on the Air" audio - The Gateway Arch was just halfway to the sky on July 14, 1964, when two St. Louis civil rights activists climbed 125 feet up a construction ladder on the unfinished north leg to protest the project’s lack of African-American workers.

It would become an iconic moment in city history.

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Percy Green details his protest on the arch and what he thinks has been accomplished since with "St. Louis on the Air" host Don Marsh.